Warning: Republicans Take Over St. Paul

The Republican Convention is taking place in St. Paul, September 1-4. Unless you're attending, working or protesting the convention, best tactic is to avoid St. Paul.

Interchange Fees and the Export of Credit Card Debt

If you're unaware of Interchange Fees, they're the fee charged to the retailer by the credit card system, such as Visa or Mastercard and are mostly based on a percentage. I read somewhere that for gas, they increase up to $50 in gas and don't increase for higher amounts. These fees increase prices at the stores and reduce profits significantly as the retailer loses for every purchase.

A few years ago there was a lawsuit between the above and retailers; when you enter a pin# the charge to the retailer is reduced because that system charges far less than the others. Visa and Mastercard wanted retailers to continue with their old, more expensive, offline system with signatures. It costs more and doesn't happen in real time.

Now, in addition to exporting trans-fats, the US has successfully exported credit card debt to consumers the world over; granted, in part it's due to the embracing of credit cards by less sophisticated banking systems that didn't take into account minor details like income and credit rating...not all countries have historically embraced debt so their infrastructure hasn't included credit ratings.

Disaster Plans

While I'm marginally aware of the potential for disaster, it seems I'm far less concerned than are others. I live in an area in which I don't think that terrorists will attack, the opinion of Jesse Ventura notwithstanding. In addition to having believed that he, himself, was a terrorist target, he believe that the Mall of America was also a target, yet chose to provide terrorists with a possible two-for-one deal by broadcasting his weekly radio show...from the MOA.

I don't worry so much about the weather either, but have started to notice that there's a lot more awareness of disaster preparedness lately. In some ways that makes sense, due to the apparent increase in disasters; I don't know if it's truly an increase or merely an increase of our awareness, given the transition over the last century of countries such as Bhutan that were isolated from the rest of the world due to distance and lack of modern infrastructure having become bastions of the electronic age.

Fuel Prices and the Bus

I'm glad to have a compact car in these times of high gas prices. Recent reports have indicated that trading down to smaller vehicles with better gas mileage is difficult at a time when so many are faced with huge bills at the gas pump. I have a small gas tank; I have occasionally put 13 gallons in the tank, on a day I was playing gas tank roulette. My gas gauge was replaced at the same time my carburetor was, a few years ago, and it's calibrated differently; I knew I had a couple of gallons remaining with the old gauge, but with this one I have to get to the gas station right now or risk running out of gas.



There's a calculator that can help you decide whether to take action on your vehicle; one guy I know was way ahead of the curve; he bought a used Ford Escort to drive to work instead of his big truck. He still has the truck but only uses it to go hunting, fishing or to haul things.



Another trend is for people to buy a refurbished Geo Metro. There's a guy near where I live who has a stash and sells them on E-Bay, one at a time.



I'm working downtown so take the bus. They say prices are going to rise, but it's still going to be cheaper for me to take the bus than to drive; parking near my current project is $9, which isn't bad. I live about 17 miles away; based on mostly freeway driving it should take just a bit over a gallon, but because we don't necessarily drive while running our cars, it may take more than that. I don't have the skills to determine the net effect of the low speed of rush hour combined with the longer driving time on actual gas use. The bus is $5.50 round trip and going up to $6, and I only have to drive a mile each way to the park n ride.

Meanwhile I lost my plastic bus card and keep thinking I'll find it. It has to be somewhere, but so far no. The advantage is that when I give up on this card, I can pay a $5 fee...of course since I had $19.50 on the card it seemed more reasonable to try locating the card so as not to lose any money.

Current Review

The current review will be ending soon but has been going well. Like every review, there's some kindergartenesque rule. For example, no talking and if you must talk, whisper. When we started, one of the associates was always on the floor with us and someone likened it to study hall. Someone else? Detention.


We were told we could only talk to the other groups in the kitchenette, which is a moot point as we have a kitchenette near our work stations now, which provides us with beverages, fridge and microwave. I bring tea and have my water bottle with me, so no worries on beverages here! It gets a bit cold, so even though I'd like to go out and get a hot drink, I stick with my tea. It's just not lawsuit-hot.



Now that I'm on a review, I got a call about a possible review through another company; they're newer to town so have fewer people registered. I'm not sure how I got to the top of their list, but it's a nice place to be despite the fact that they never call when I'm available. They didn't get the last document review project they talked about, but hopefully will get one soon.

On Groceries, Trash Bags and Tea

On my way home from the CLE, I noticed a Big Lots and had to stop. Why? I like Carr's Water Crackers, which are now $3.49 at my local grocery store and cost $1 at Big Lots. There isn't a store near me, so I had to stop. I had also bought tea there before, which cost $2 for a tin of 50 teabags. While I'm trying not to stockpile things, and use the tea I have, some opportunities just can't be missed.



Big Lots is another store with a random selection of items. I'm not sure where they get their merchandise but they have some furniture, random housewares, gardening supplies, automotive and tools, along with beauty supplies and food. It seems like a good place to go if you need to set up housekeeping; you won't find everything there, but many of the items are sold at a good price. As with any other discount store, it pays to be aware of pricing. I found a car charger for my cellphone for $5, which was good as my other one no longer works. While I plan to keep the phone awhile yet, it seemed silly to pay $20 for a new one when one of these days I'll break down and get a different phone. My phone provider keeps e-mailing me information on special deals and new phones. I don't use the phone that much that I've bitten yet.



I ended up buying random things; various crackers, including five boxes of Carr's Water Crackers, chocolate covered almonds, five tins of tea. Last time I was at a Big Lots, they didn't have the tea I liked and the time before I had purchased only one tin. I like English Breakfast Tea and the box at home was getting low; it was from Trader Joe's and had cost $3.49 several months ago.



I like Aveda Rosemary Mint Conditioner, but don't feel like I should spend the money on such expensive products, so sprung for a bottle of some other brand Rosemary Mint. I think it had cost $6 each for shampoo and conditioner. Worth trying at that price. I haven't tried it yet because I'm not through my current product.



When I went through the paper and plastic aisle, I realized that this store was the point of origin for one of my boxes of trash bags. I walked right on by; I have now gotten through the ones I don't like, and recently started using the ones I bought at Target. It was difficult not to use them before I was through the others, but I'm glad I waited. If I hadn't I'd still have the ones I don't like. Now they're gone.

Ethics and the Temporary Attorney

Periodically one hears stories relating to people behaving unethically on document reviews.



I've been told about attorneys who have blatantly gotten paid for not working; in once case, on a project with unlimited OT, an attorney would go online to view pornography, back in the days before there were porn filters. In another case, the attorney would come in, fire up the computer, get a cup of coffee, leave the cup of coffee together with strategically placed reading glasses, with jacket slung across the back of the chair, as though the attorney will return momentarily...and go shopping for a couple of hours. Regularly.



While I know that everyone checks their e-mail or reads the paper or does some other thing online at some point during the day, the idea is to spend most of the day actually working; yet I remember one attorney who would come in, sign into the program and immediately leave to get coffee. This, at a firm providing good coffee on the floor. Same attorney wandered around a lot; so much that on his second day being added to the project, law firm staff noticed it. To top it off? He surfed the net at his desk, as far as we could tell, the majority of the time; it was a project on which we self-assigned work and you could look to see how much progress had been made. In his case, it was never much.

Ethics and CLE's

Because we're a self-reporting state and not all CLE's take attendance, there remains a possibility that attorneys will claim more credits than actually attending. It would definitely be tempting at the end of a reporting period to do so, especially if one miscalculates. Some CLE's still take attendance and send out certificates of attendance.



I don't know how likely it is that anyone would over-report; I would expect it to be most likely that people would leave a CLE early and claim the entire time, not necessarily on purpose, but most CLE's aren't approved at the time they occur, so it would be easy to forget that one left a bit early.



I wanted to leave my recent CLE early because it took place in a suburb that's a bit of a distance from where I live, but because I want all the credits, I forced myself to stay the entire time.

Rudeness at Work

One of the employees with whom I worked on a project is rude. At first I thought it was special for me; later, learned that it was to all temps. Much later, another employee told us that isn't so; the employee is rude, aware of said rudeness and doesn't care.

In my state, in January of 2009, industry standards designed to address rude, or hostile behavior will come into play; they'll define things. Because the person is a long-term employee of the firm, I don't' expect policies to have much of an effect, except in relationship to those at a higher level. There will always be people who have a line of demarcation and treat people differently based on their relative levels. Since temporary attorneys aren't on any level, it stands to reason that this person's behavior, as to the likes of us, will not change.

What's interesting is that I've heard no reports of this impacting the persons success in performing assigned duties, which is surprising; I once worked at a place in which people complained about the shipping department all the time. I had no trouble. Why? I'd go with my package, tell them what I wanted and ask if it was possible. Unsuccessful people paid no attention to the parameters within which shipping worked, like deadlines for overnighting things, and would demand that they ship something immediately. Asking for help in a complicated situation was far more effective.

Having had (and currently holding) impossibly low positions on the totem pole (or not rating the totem pole), I know what it's like to be treated badly because of ones position. Because I have much more respect for those who treat me respectfully, I'll never be rude to people based on their relative position.

What the rude people don't realize is that someday the person to whom they're rude may be in a position to help them or harm them.

The Millionaire Next Door...or Not

According to The Millionaire Next Door you should have age X income /10 in savings or assets. This can mean your actual savings account, cd's, money market accounts, 401k, brokerage accounts, home equity or equity in any other assets. So I take that calculation, to which I then add my debt and subtract my actual assets to learn my negative net worth. I've only done it once but since I no longer have consumer debt, each transfer to my savings account and payment on a student loan brings me closer to having a zero net worth!

As though that isn't enough of a disparity, I have recently learned that a couple retiring at age 65 in 2008 should have $225,000 for health care, despite their eligibility for Medicare. I don't have to worry so much about that since the retirement age is creeping up every year and will probably be about 85 for someone my age.

By these formulae, I'm a long way behind; nevertheless, I'm trying to build up my savings and am a firm believer in putting 10% into a 401K any time it's an available option. If at all possible, it's important to leave it there in times of need.

New CLE Reporting Period

Now that my new reporting period has started, I've done the math; if I attend each of the four free all-day CLE's of which I'm aware in the next year, I will have completed over half of my CLE credits for this reporting period. I don't know if it will be possible; however, between the one I recently attended and the one in September, it's about 25% of the total required.

Now that it's August, the lunchtime CLE's should be starting up again. Based on the timeframe in which I'm allowed to work on a given day, and the more central work location for this project, I should have no trouble finding one lunchtime CLE a month to attend.

the breakfast CLE's at my law school will barely squeak in as an option: I can start as late as 9:30 and that's the earliest I would be able to arrive due to distance and parking. As it's a short project, it may be a moot point. Since they want licensed attorneys, I'm sure if I let them know it won't be a problem.

It seems like the shorter the project, the tighter the controls. And they're pretty tight on this one.

Loan Reduction

Because I didn't work for most of the summer, I may not achieve my goal of paying off one of my private loans by the end of the year. It has a co-signer and no way to reduce interest like my other loans. It's also the mid-range of interest rates. My Federal loan is fixed, which has its upside as well as down; I graduated, consolidated and obtained a fixed rate, however, in the meantime, rates went waaaay down, and are now on an upswing. I know someone with higher rates of interest on a student loan for undergrad who is going to look into automatic payments and find out if that will reduce interest. I don't think it would be possible several years later to consolidate and get a better rate; if it had been possible before the whole banking industry implosion, it's not likely to be possible now.

My targeted loan will likely increase in another month or two, as the associated webpage lists interests rate that I believe are good through September; the trend is upward, so I can expect this loan to increase. My bar loan has been all over the map and my recent payment was required to be about $3 less than the upcoming payment. While it isn't a significant increase, and the difference between that and my private loan, isn't likely to be that much, the private loan is a significantly higher amount of money, so it makes the most sense to put more money on that.

I waffle between targeting the private loan entirely and paying extra on the bar loan so I can get a slight reduction in interest. Which is probably silly; the extra is around $40 and it would be better to direct another $50 to the private loan.

They say you should target the smallest bill or the highest interest rate in order to reduce debt. While I'm deviating from that plan in order to free my co-signer from the obligation, I will still see progress by targeting extra payments to one portion of the loan. Once that portion is gone, my payments to each other segment will automatically increase

Debt Reduction

When attempting to pay down debt, it's important to make payments that are higher than the minimum. Generally, a debt will not be reduced unless you pay at least the minimum payment + interest assessed for that period. That formula ensures that a) the debt will be reduced by the amount of the minimum payment and b) the overall interest will be reduced. They say people pay on credit card balances for 20 years, ultimately paying a lot more for whatever they did to rack up the bill.

A good rule of thumb is to take the above amount and round it up to an even dollar amount. Continue paying that amount every month, and every month you will be paying a slightly higher amount on principal than the month before. It helps to look at your bill every month and compare it to the bill for the previous month. If you're ambitious you can make a spreadsheet; over time you'll see the increase in principal paid each month. It's important to target only one debt for this type of activity, and yes, I know it's difficult. I did this in turn with each portion of my consumer debt, starting with the debt that was largest and had the highest interest rate, my credit card.

Once the first debt is taken care of, add that monthly payment to the next targeted debt so you will progress even faster. In my case, I had overwhelming amounts of debt; due to my naivete in believing that law school would help my bottom line I ended up consolidating credit cards, buying a car and ended up with a bank loan and shiny new credit card debt right before the economy imploded. In addition to my student loans. I had a dentist bill looming over my head. I was paying a certain amount on my credit card each month and once I paid off the dentist, I paid off my car, one month early. It isn't much but that was another chunk of money to send to the credit card and I did. And kept sending them that amount of money in addition to my previously normal payment.

Six months later, my bank loan was paid off and I was able to put that amount of money toward my credit card in addition. It still took another year to pay off. I'd be embarrassed to say the dollar amount but let's just say that I saw the money profile on CNN last year when it featured a social worker who wanted to go to law school. He had approx. $100k on credit cards. I felt downright fiscally responsible.

Incidentally, CNN gave him the same advice I've just given; pay the smallest one first (dentist bill, followed by car loan) and add those amounts to the next targeted debt. I didn't add my bank loan to my calculation for faster payoff as a) it was deducted automatically; b) ended in 6 mos; and c) had a lower rate of interest than the credit card. It made more sense to me to work on the credit card; each month would add more interest to that balance, which wasn't true of my bank loan.

More on CLE

This CLE was much more successful from a networking perspective; while my prediction that more attendees would be female, the people with whom I sat at lunch were far more friendly than at the previous CLE. One of my companions even works for a company in a regulated industry in which I'm interested. She's leaving a compliance position and she and her colleague were open to meeting to me in the future, gave me tips on applying and told me about specific openings. They say there's a lot of opportunity at their company right now.

While I'd have liked to have met people from a couple of other companies present, I was happy to get a firm lead on positions at an expanding company. It's near where I live and I've applied for positions before, but have never been able to find someone within the company, never mind someone in the specific department in which I'm interested.

Free CLE

A few days before starting my new project, I attended my free all-day law firm CLE. Party favors weren't as good as at the previous one; in addition to the materials, we were given a pen and water bottle, both of which featured the law firms logo. The food was good; fruit, muffins, bagels and pastries, with coffee, tea, oj, cranberry juice and water. At break time they switched p the beverages, replacing juice with coca-cola products, including my old favorite, diet coke.

The information was great and the speakers were engaging. The speakers prior to the break had prepared sufficient information that i believe they could've gone on forever. Or at least until lunch. They asked questions and gave prized at the end of their session; either a law firm logo notebook or mints. I was a winner and took the mints.

About 1/3 of the seats were empty at the beginning and about half empty by the end of the day.

One of the speakers discussed a topic and integrated celebrities as examples for medical privacy issues. I know that celebrities files get checked out for a lot of non-business-related reasons; lately in the news celebrity passport files were breached, including those of Anna Nicole Smith, which resulted in contract workers being terminated. It's so predictable that it would happen.

Lunch was roast chicken breast, roasted vegetables, including zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms and carrots, salad of baby greens, carrot sheds * tomatoes, hard rolls butter fruit tart with strawberries, blueberries and kiwi. They had a swag drawing and gave away cheeseboards, hats, beach towels and golf umbrellas

Situational Friendship

You know how it is, you start a project and periodically, people disappear? You've gone on break with the person, eaten lunch together every day, and poof! Gone from the project and gone from your life.

I view workplace or volunteer situation friendships as situational. If something changes for one of you, chances are good you won't stay in touch. How many of your law school classmates, with whom you're not working or rooming, did you stay in touch with? If you're anything like me, there are a few and not necessarily the ones you expected to have continued contact with. My closest law school friend with whom I remained in touch is a woman who I met in the library and now lives in another country. I had lunch with her a couple weeks ago after not having seen her for the two years since she left and only sporadic contact via e-mail. She'll be back in the area in a few years and we'll pick up where we left off. No big deal.

People from work are the same way; I didn't go to law school immediately after college and remained in contact with a couple of people from work, as well as others I had met through them, for several years after leaving. I'm no longer in touch with any of those people and the only person from that workplace with whom I'm in contact is someone also on LinkedIn. I need to ask her to meet me for drinks or lunch or something to catch up. It was an interesting workplace and I could see that she has contacts who are still there.

There's even a more remote possibility of remaining in contact with people from projects; more so if they're longer projects, less on shorter projects. The nature of project work is such that it isn't a surprise if people disappear; and difficult to know why, unless you encounter them later. Either they were booted from the project, got a job or better project or were abducted by aliens. I suppose quitting in disgust is a possibility, but not for me, with my loans!

In any case, there's no reason to be surprised; most people don't share contact information immediately and in event of sudden departure, there's no way to know. The guy who sat across from me on the beginning of a project alluded to the possibility of contract work that paid better in his future. He mentioned it early in the week and was gone by the end of that week. I didn't think anything of it, but other people wondered why he didn't say goodbye. Not specifically, no, but he provided us sufficient information that we shouldn't have been surprised when he was gone.

Even exchanging contact information doesn't in any way mean you'll stay in touch. It's just the way of the world.

Interviews for Document Review Projects

I don't know whether it's a manifestation of the dearth of new projects this summer, a quirk of the attorney doing the interviews or a new trend in the document review world but potential attorneys for an upcoming project are required to:

1. already be registered with the agency; an attorney who wasn't registered was told it was full. Granted, that agency has hundreds of attorneys registered and it seems many agencies don't worry about new people unless they can't fill a project with attorneys already listed;

2. send an updated resume;

3. pass the conflicts check, which for many people has been a difficulty with this firm. I think everyone I know has been passed over due to a conflict for this firm at one time or another;

4. be selected for an interview; and

5. become one of the chosen ones.

I don't know how many reviewers will be working on this project, but it seems silly for the attorney to waste a couple of days on 15-minute interviews for a project slated to last less than six months, especially since it seems likely that all candidates will be experienced document reviewers, many of whom will have already worked on projects for this firm. The cynical part of my brain expects that it's to increase billable hours. Then again, the client may require interviews.

Debt Collection is on the Rise

As our economy continues to tank, debt collection is on the rise. Which means that bad debt collection practices are also on the rise. I haven't been sent to collections recently; however, in college I had a situation.

I went to school in another state and ordered pizza with a friend. It was the middle of the semester. Since I'm not a great mathematician, my check bounced. Because it was a college town pizza place, instead of putting the check through again, they held it and sent it to collections six months later. My checking account was through a bank at home, where my statements were sent, so I didn't realize it wasn't sent through again; I had written my local address on the check and received no notification that year of anything. The following fall, I started getting harassing calls from the collection agent, who, among other things, accused me of skipping town without leaving a forwarding address to avoid paying the bill. For half a pizza.

While I did leave town that summer, the check they were attempting to collect on had an address printed on it; an address that was valid, where my mom still lives. College students do typically move, but the pizza place made no attempt to collect from me at the address at which I lived that semester, which was written on the check, prior to sending my check to collections, which found me at my new school address the next year. It would have been much more sensible of them to put the check through a second time, which is what I assumed had happened when I didn't hear anything later.

Meanwhile, one of my friends worked for the other collection company in town and had me talk to her supervisor. I was told that the collection policy had to appear where the transaction took place; in this case, the pizza guy took my check at time of delivery, so in order for the fee to be valid, the delivery drivers would have had to either hand customers a notice or wear a button that had the policy printed. He didn't. The upshot is that I wasn't required to pay the fee, only the amount of the check I had written. I went downtown with a friend and paid the fee. They didn't argue with me because they know that pizza delivery drivers don't give notice of the policy.

I've fallen behind on bills before and have probably mentioned that my old credit card people gave me some good advice; I was told not to get more than two months behind on my bill and I would have no real trouble with them. If I became three or more months out of date, that was when the trouble started.

That was then and now they start collections sooner. I did make a late payment on a student loan last year and they called me about a week after my due date. That particular lender used to call 15 days after the due date. And not stop until the check cleared, which was frustrating; their collections people are in Canada and for some reason it takes an inordinate amount of time for them to cash the check in the US and update the collections people.

Last month I forgot to mail the check, which happens from time to time; they have a new system now and rather than a live person, an automated computer voice asks for me and mispronounces my name. They called the day after my bill was due; the check was in the mail already so I didn't bother calling them back. Yet another reason I want my loans paid off!

The Posse List

Recently a colleague forwarded a project received from The Posse List, unfortunately for me, it was a project that required DC barred attorneys, of which I am not one. They have listservs which are divided geographically and disseminate information on projects that are brought to their attention. I'm in a small market which isn't covered; however, because there aren't always projects available here, I have subscribed to lists for a few different places, with the idea of temporarily relocating to work on a project.

I can't be the only one out there who hadn't heard of this list, can I?

Coincidental Free CLE's

Today I had an e-mail from a non-profit that, among other things, puts on lunchtime presentations. Even though it's the one that didn't receive credit for one of their lunches and that delayed submission of their program for another event, which eventually received credit, I'd have gone. I'm at the beginning of my reporting period and any credit is a good credit. My new rule with this outfit is that I won't count on their credits for the end of my reporting period. I figure the first two-and-a-half years of a three-year reporting period should be good; by that point, I'll know how many more credits I need and not count on getting any from these people.

Unfortunately, the lunch is the same day as an all-day free CLE, so I'll miss out on this credit. I haven't been able to find too many free CLE's in July and August so I'm disappointed that I won't be able to attend the lunchtime program.

June seems to be the big freebie month, since the reporting period ends on June 30th. Last June I got about 16 free credits, all in about a week. In any case, I have three years so expect to have no trouble meeting my goal.

Your Mindset can Affect Your Achievements

Your mindset can affect your achievements and whether you're capable of growth in your career. If you're interested in growth and learning, you're capable. If not? Then you'll have trouble growing.

Economic Hardship Deferments

I seriously considered applying for an economic hardship deferment for my gigantic student loan, since I'm not working right now and all. That would make it much easier. What stops me is that I'll only end up increasing my monthly minimum and I don't want to do that. I should be able to pay the amount required right now based on my unemployment payments.



I finally received the letter indicating that I qualify to receive unemployment if I jump through the remainder of their hoops; applying for jobs, blah, blah, blah. I have to take a couple of their little classes and have fulfilled other requirements. Their webpage is only available from 6 am to 6 pm Monday-Friday so I have to wait until Monday to look at the schedule and find out when the classes are and if I can just go or if there's a need to sign up.



I have already begun networking as well as having signed up on the state job bank page. I didn't really sign up, just updated my account. I have also signed up to receive other job postings via e-mail so it's really just the classes. One is a creative job search class, which I don't think will have anything new for me to learn; the other is an interviewing skills workshop, which may prove helpful. I'm introverted so don't think I interview the best.

Corporate Webpages

Some corporate webpages make everything easy, others resemble Dante's Circles of Hell. I just viewed a page to remain nameless and it took some digging to find their search page.

One thing I don't like is the need to register, creating a username and password; if it was possible to create one username and password to use with all corporate career pages, I'd be much happier. Requirements vary so it's difficult to remember the information. One thing I do appreciate is the sites that allow you to use either your username or e-mail address together with your password. This works out well except when there's a system glitch that insists the e-mail address doesn't exist in their system. And five minutes later e-mails a password reset page. Because apparently the e-mail address was in the system. Whether the system wanted to admit it or not!

By then I had called the help desk and had spoken with two representatives who didn't understand the problem. Yes, I had eventually received the password reset information, but there is a system glitch that needs to be fixed. I'm sure it still isn't fixed because they just didn't get it; their sphere of influence is likely narrow and the information I provided was outside the scope thereof.

It's not so bad when the requirement is to upload and send a cover letter and resume; it's when in-depth information is required that I become frustrated; chances are good that I won't find another job to apply for at this corporation until after my profile has been deleted in a year or so. And I'll just have to re-invent the wheel. I don't enjoy adding project after project to a profile for their convenience.

Such is the life of an unemployed attorney.

Sudoku Can Mess With Your Trial

Sudoku can mess with your trial. All trial attorneys should consider themselves warned.

While I realize that evidence can be boring, it seems that if you're on a jury, at minimum, you should pay attention. You don't have to completely understand the evidence, probably many jurors don't; but would it kill you to listen?

Living Green by Using Clotheslines

Some areas ban the clothesline. You remember, that thing outside on which your mom or grandma dried clothes? The one that doesn't need carbon offsets because there's no machinery involved. Two metal posts, with four or five ropes connecting them, ropes on which laundry is pinned and dried? Alternative styles include the umbrella style which features a single post with four arms attached at the top which are connected with ropes going around; another option is to have the ropes attach to the house and a metal pole at the other end. Some in this style are made to be retractable. People used to also hang ropes in their basement to dry things during the winter. After all, the furnace is down there so it's warm. My mom hasn't had a clothesline in years and is talking about installing a new one. To save on her utility bill.

Clotheslines are viewed as low-class eyesores by some, yet are a viable way to cut down on energy bills. I heard somewhere that electricity is going up 40% in price by winter. Never mind that gas and food continue to increase in price, but still homeowners associations ban them. In some places clotheslines are restricted to the backyard, but in others, they're banned altogether; honestly, I've never seen a clothesline other than in the backyard, so that seems to be an odd restriction.

It seems reasonable to give people the option, now that budgets are being squeezed the way they are.

Destee Nation

Cool shirts. Because everyone needs a cool shirt.

Other Types of Emergencies

The emergency I'm most likely to have during summer is weather-related. When the thermometer gets to the high 80's, I sometimes declare an emergency and go to Dairy Queen.

I don't do well in hot weather, to the extent that others notice and question my well-being. I tend to get overheated pretty easily, presumably a result of second-degree sunburns when I was younger; I've had trouble with heat and sun since then.

I have air conditioning everywhere, so unless I'm outside, it shouldn't be a big deal. When it gets too hot though, no matter how much water I drink to remain hydrated, I sometimes stay overheated. On those days, it really does help to go get ice cream. It took me a long time to realize I needed to drink about three liters of water daily when it starts getting hot out. When I consistently do so, I feel much better.

In any case, it's good to make certain you're taking in enough water in hot weather. And it has the added benefit of making your brain work better. Someone loaned me a tape to listen to before I took the bar exam. I remember that water has a positive effect, as does making figure-8 motions. So I would make figure-8's with my feet and hands at the beginning of each portion of the test. I passed the first time; whether or not the tape had anything to do with it, I have no idea.

Purposeful Stockpiling

Some people stockpile certain things on purpose. I have know people who have had fetishes for vast quantities of paper products for both kitchen and bath or for canned goods.



My friends mom had more paper products than seemed reasonable to me; I usually buy a multi-pack when they're on sale but one seems to be enough. I can always buy more later. I do not need a huge mountain of packs of paper products. In addition to sheer bulk, they're not terribly cheap.



Other people stockpile canned goods, whether canning at home or buying from the store; in the 1950's people were told to have canned goods on hand in their bomb shelter and this mentality may just have pervaded society. While I don't think my sister has quite gone over the edge, she does keep a lot more canned goods on hand than I think is necessary. I'm sure she has sufficient to fill a couple of paper grocery sacks in their entirety. She has at least two types of emergency in mind; the greater portion is related to the possibility of power outage, being snowed in or, since she seems to have a lot of tomato products, a worldwide shortage of canned tomatoes. The other possible emergency, for which she stockpiles soup, is when you haven't been grocery shopping in awhile, forgot to thaw something out for dinner or don't feel like cooking.

I have some canned goods, but usually not stockpiles. The odd can of water chestnuts or soup. Not much else. My emergencies are clearly not going to be tomato-based.

There are probably Sociology students doing studies on this for inclusion in their theses. What would trigger stockpiling of a certain item? In my case, sales, carelessness and not being quite so poor that I've had to pay that close attention result in stockpiles of products. I'm working on changing that.

Stockpiling Products

I mentioned that I had faltered and purchased the trash bags that I prefer; I have now used the remainder of the nearly-finished roll that I found after purchasing the other and two from one of the other rolls. They're about the same size so I need to pick one and use it up. One is more crinkly plastic so I should try to get rid of those first, as they're downright annoying.

I'm trying to get better at making a list and adhering to it when I go to the store so as to avoid having massive stockpiles of products. I know people are stockpiling food more than they used to; in particular I remember reading about rice being rationed at the big box club stores several months ago, and that was before all the press about countries stockpiling food. While I know that small businesses sometimes get their supplies at the club stores, I don't know whether there was a correlation or whether it's about types of rice available only in small quantities. I do know that my grocery store has a much wider array of rice than they did when I was a child and that the Oriental grocery stores carry many more varieties. To me, rice is rice. That isn't true of everyone. Some people can tell one type of rice from another.

The only food-related items I have in large quantity are condiments, dried herbs, spices and cake/cookie decorating stuff. I don't have any particular condiment stockpiled, but seem to have too vast an array thereof; I have all kinds of marinades and random things that seemed like a good idea when I bought them, but since I still have them, unopened, maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Right now I'm working on my raspberry cocktail sauce. I need to eat more shrimp to make sure I use it. The trick seems to be to use one product and make it go away, then replace it only in the event of immediate need.

One thing I didn't pay close enough attention to is razor blades. I have three boxes of refill cartridges for my razor. Won't need those for awhile. I'm still working on depleting my existing stockpiles of bath products and am likely to be doing so for a long time. The good thing is that I didn't have to worry about buying anything besides food and gas when I wasn't working. The bad thing is that I spent a lot of money prematurely.

Aldi

I went to Aldi today, because I had time to kill. It was there and so was I. Wasn't sure what to think as I had ventured into one of the first Aldi stores in this area a few years ago and didn't see much that I needed. Gas was under $2 a gallon at the time, and nobody was hoarding food, at least not publicly so I'm sure my needs were different than they are now. There have been more articles about grocery shopping recently, simply because prices have been rising.

Aldi's a bit strange. It's owned by the same Germans who own Trader Joe's. Which is another story entirely. Aldi is approximately the same size as a general grocer in Europe, at least when I was there several years ago. By which I mean much smaller than a typical American store. Even a regular old grocery store in a small town, not a gigantic box store. But it's bigger than a convenience store. They don't take checks but take some debit cards. Not all. And they take cash.

The first thing I found when I walked in the door was various flavors of canned Arizona beverages. I like the Mango one and this product normally sells for $.99 but was $.79, which is a good deal so I bought a few, despite the size of the container. I don't remember their store bands, which is fine; someone in the grocery business once told me that store brand foods are made in the same factory as name brand foods and are of good quality. Their brand of cereal was $1.99 a box, which is about a dollar less than my usual store, but I haven't bought cereal in awhile and prices have been going up so the difference could be greater. I bought a box of corn squares, which are like corn chex, and I was unable to detect an appreciable difference.

Their cases of bottled water were the same price as at my local store, so no bargain there, though they had toothpaste for $2, which is much less than I pay. I think it was Colgate. I use Tom's of Maine and have for a few years, ever since someone recommended it as being better for your teeth. Since then the dental hygienist hasn't lectured me once, so it's very much worth the higher price. My cousin uses Tom's of Maine because it's made in the US. And they use natural ingredients rather than poly-syllabic chemicals.

I didn't buy much because I have plenty of groceries right now, though I did buy ranch dressing for $.99. They had tons of produce and $.69 mangoes would've been tempting but weren't ripe. And I have a ton of fruit right now. They also had hot dogs and brats, along with honey-baked hams. Those were out since I try to minimize sodium and part of that is by avoiding processed foods.

Once I deplete some of my grocery supplies, I'll go back to Aldi. But first I'll have to check prices on the things I need to make sure I don't overpay. That's a concern at warehouse stores such as Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's too. I used to go to Sam's with my mom and settle up with her afterwards. We invariably spent a lot more money than we realized because of the combination of giant shopping carts, the perception that the goods are always a deal and the likelihood that by our next visit they'll have moved on to other products.

Aldi is the same way, with a seemingly random array of products. But they aren't sold in gigantic multi-packs and don't require a membership, so it's better for me. I'm sure next time the products will have changed; they had a can of white icing with red and blue sprinkles to put on, presumably 4th of July overstock. I already have icing for my cupcakes and will use the sprinkles I already have.

The weirdest thing about Aldi is that you have to put a quarter in a little gizmo on the cart which will then unlock it from the chain of carts. I don't have great manual dexterity, so that's a reason right there for me to minimize my Aldi shopping. They also charge you for paper or plastic bags so this is a good place to bring your reusable bags. I'll have to put mine in the car so I can use them at Aldi.

Unemployment

One interesting thing I learned about unemployment in my state is that when you report employment, you must also report any volunteer work you've done. I'm not sure what that's in aid of; nor can you get unemployment if you work more than 32 hours in a week, even if what you earn would be less than your unemployment payment.

The only thing I can think of is that if you volunteer too much it gets in the way of actually looking for a job? Because if you're volunteering full time or nearly full time, you're not likely to be spending a lot of time on your job search. On the other hand, you could be gaining valuable skills.

Another thing I don't understand is why the administrator of my Federal loans states on their economic hardship deferment form that you must be looking for any job anywhere. Which makes no sense whatsoever; if I'm unemployed, I'm not going to have the wherewithal to move to another city or the ability to prove income to rent an apartment. If I apply for any job, I'll be overqualified for many, unlicensed in 49 states and the District of Columbia, and many of those jobs won't pay sufficient for me to finance food, clothing and shelter along with the care and feeding of my student loans.

Their requirement is more strict than that of unemployment, which requires you to look for work in your field, within a reasonable distance of your home, that pays no less than your last job. That's a completely different requirement.